With Rick’s permission, and in light of the controversy surrounding “The Trial in Heaven”, I present the following Q&A thread.

In May, ChewyChewy wrote:

The thing is, all art is communication. The problem is when there is a communications breakdown--if the one communicating (the artist) and the one being communicated to (the audience) don't agree on a common language, then there can be antagonism between the two. On the one hand, the audience had certain expectations given the advertising of the art, which failed to meet those particular expectations, and so the audience feels betrayed, misled, even lied to--and so they feel antagonism toward the artist. On the other hand, the artist had certain intentions which the audience didn't appreciate, and so the artist feels unappreciated, unable to live up to the audience's expectations, helpless and at the mercy of people who don't know and don't appreciate how much time and effort goes into their work and don't cushion their criticism with honest compliments--and so they feel resentful of the audience.

It helps when both try to meet each other halfway: the artist by giving a clear idea of the intention of the comic (without resorting to spoilers, of course), and the audience by trying to make sure they know what "language" the art is in. Like if you want to say someone is "a great woman", DON'T say "una mujer grande".

I think Chewy had it right, here. A lot of us were taken aback or blindsided by the events of this storyline, even upset, likely enough to make Rick go "Dude, what the crap?!". Some of us didn’t think that Housepets could ever get so TENSE. Of course, that’s subjective: what is tense to one person isn’t tense to another. But it felt somehow DIFFERENT than a comic about funny animal antics, and crossed a line for many of us. What I am startig here is a general Q&A for people who would like a general idea of the where the comic might go/not go, in a general sense, in order to try and help prevent things like what happened two months ago from happening again. Basically, questions that can help define what Housepets is, or if you like, isn't, for those of us who do not know or understand. No spoilers, of course. As in things you might see (Karishad's antics in the koala pen), and things you'll never see (catnip smoking). You know, for people who have never seen the comic, and for people who had false or overly high expectations or presumptions about it.

The rules are thusly:

1. Each forumite here is restricted to three questions about the comic.2. Rick reserves the right to refuse to answer any question for any reason. So keep it as general as possible. The more specific you get, the more likely it is that Rick will "plead the 5th" on a particular question.3. Observe all rules of the forum.

Again, this is with Rick's permission, and keep it civil.

I have only one question at the moment:

IS there a "main" storyline to Housepets? I certainly feel like there is, but is there a main overarching dramatic or comedic themed story to all this?

Last edited by PhoenixAsper on Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.

There certainly is a storyline: it revolves around King and the cosmic beings at the moment, where it most likely comes down to most likely who is going to win or if King/Joel is happy with his life from the looks of things. That seems to be the most serious plot, but i honestly believe in terms of a story-line, the animal rules in the Housepets! world are the most serious and interesting. that's the way it's preceived to me, at least. If you mean if this comic has a story-line to the extent of a ending when the story's over like "For Better or For Worse"? That's hard to say.

As for my own personal question... I can't really think of one since mostly my question is hard to answer, but at the same time I don't want it to be ruined. When you read so many romantic comics about cute animals, the main question comes in the same style that everyone that gets use to it boils down to whether they are going to have it fully develop or not? Mind you, i practically squee whenever i see cuddling in this comic since it feels so developed as opposed to just simple teasing and i'm willing to live with it for years to come if it keeps feeling develop, which is super awesome.

The question comes to my mind though is whether there will be progression or aging? I'm already aware that natural aging won't happen, but since we were treated to a "Housepets Babies" Arc, the question sorta struck my mind. King has been showing more progression in the comics than anyone, and I personally think while it's nice to see this much progression, would the progression ever move into an area in the future where we witness deep love confessions or marriages and further on? As long as i'm aware of it, but don't know what happens, i'm happy =)

_________________3 words - Liquid Metal Fur

Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:53 pm

Gren

Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:47 pmPosts: 1177Location: Argentina

Re: A Little Q&A

I think we must not take things so seriously, because it's bad for the author and for ourselves. I know there are things that can make you feel depressed or annoyed, but please don't overreact for that. It's just a comic, and no one die, so keep your minds open, because we didn't have all the information. Most of us are assuming things that we even have a redundant proof to support it. It's just our fears, not facts, so at least keep the hope and not blame Rick for what he done, because we didn't see how this going to end.Besides, aren't the unforeseen twists what make us keep interested in this comic? Because if you know how the things will going to happen and how this comic going to end, why you still reading this? The twists are what made us stick our butts in our chairs and our eyes in the screen, wanting to know "what the *** happen?" or "how this going to affect this to the characters?" and questions like that. So please don't demand Rick to continue his work in the way as you want, because it's not funny for the rest of the fans.

And for the romantic stuff, like I said before, at least you can do is keep the hope for whatever pairing you support, because nothing is sure. Who knows, maybe Rick may get tired for all the complains and decide to create new couples to shut our mouths (coming with couples like a GrapexMarvin or a PeanutxSabrina, after all, he's the god of this comic muahahaha). And for what happened in the trial, you must not assume anything, because we don't know if what Pete said is really true or the grade of the manipulation or who are involved, etc etc.

And for what GameCobra said, I don't think they can get married, because they are pets. Bahh, why I said that if I don't know how are the laws in the housepets! universe? However, it could be really weird to me see Peanut doing a proposal or Max taking a a serious commitment, but who I am to say that? I don't going to complain if this happen

Regarding the questions, the only one I have (or at least I feel curiosity to be answered) is how the other characters (not the main characters like Peanut, Grape and King; the others) are involved in the central plot? Because I want to know if they were created to appear only in isolated arcs or if they could have more than a minor role in the central plot.

_________________

Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:43 pm

Foxstar

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU

Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:00 amPosts: 1550

Re: A Little Q&A

First off. I wouldn't say "A lot of us" when it was a very small subsect of fans who were taken aback by what happened, some of us seem to remember that this is a funny animal comic after all and not the most important thing ever. At the end of the day, all of us, including mods are readers of the comic. We can like or don't like what Rick does, but I like to think we have our heads screwed on tightly enough to not lose our collective minds when he does something we don't like.

Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:09 am

DingoVolf

Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2012 12:17 amPosts: 154Location: It was unwise to wake the 3-eyed cat, but we did it anyways, and now look at us. Whatever you do,

Re: A Little Q&A

Really? The King Saga and Cosmic shenanigans are what changed this comic from something I find cute and amusing to something I actively connect with. For getting a well-done comic drawn by a great artist who updates frequently all for free, I'm not finding anything I can complain about.

Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:17 pm

Wanderer

Re: A Little Q&A

Well you need some story line to make it interesting! Animal shenanigans gets boring pretty fast (no offence). If it was simply one-offs everyday, I think Rick would run out of things to write very soon. I don't know what you mean by tense, because I thought it was mild.

Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:33 pm

Liam

Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 4:25 pmPosts: 1530Location: BMW-topia

Re: A Little Q&A

Foxstar wrote:

I wouldn't say "A lot of us" when it was a very small subsect of fans

Dark figure's higher.

I saw lots of negative reaction on external sites (internal being the forums and comment section) who weren't exactly taken aback rather than worried about the comic's quality. And since most of them weren't at the very end of the spectrum, i.e. "ALL MAGIC ARCS SUCK!!1", I would say that's okay since the problem's solved now.

_________________"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

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